


Longing

by lionessvalenti



Category: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 11:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>You are a woman with a heart so true that it can hold love for not one, but two men.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Longing

"My Queen," William said, bowing deeply. He stood upright and stared into Snow White's eyes for a long moment, and she gazed back at him, entranced. His eyes were so full of warmth and love, but at the same time she could see his pain and loneliness. She nearly reached her hand out to touch his cheek, but he pulled away before she could move toward him. He turned and left the hall without another word.

Now alone with him in the hall, Snow White turned to Eric, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a sad smile. It was the only smile he seemed to know. Even in his most joyous moment, his smile seemed sad to her.

"He longs for you," Eric said.

She knew that, and she too longed for him. She had often thought of William while she was locked away all those years. She wondered how he had grown and changed, and sometimes she had imagined him rescuing her from her prison. She thought, also, of the kiss, the one that had been Ravenna in disguise, but it was the closest she had come.

"But it was your kiss that woke me," she replied, though that wasn't the reason she kept with Eric. Their bond was strong and fierce, and she felt the depth of his love for her every time his eyes met hers.

Eric moved closer to her and closed a hand over one of her velvet-clad shoulders. "He kissed you first, did you know? Right after you had died. He still held you in his arms and kissed you."

That she hadn't known, and her lips tingled, as though her skin could remember how Will's true kiss had felt. Her stomach twisted and it felt like something pierced her inside. "So, his kiss failed."

"Or," Eric said, touching her chin, and guiding her face to look at his, "one kiss wasn't enough magic to wake you. One love wasn't enough for your fair heart. Perhaps my kiss wouldn't have worked had he not kissed you first. You are a queen with a love for her people and her kingdom that all of your subjects feel every day within them, and you are a woman with a heart so true that it can hold love for not one, but two men."

"Do you truly believe that?" Snow White asked. She took his strong hand in her own and squeezed it tightly. Her heart had felt heavy, but at his words, it seemed to float within her.

"I believe it of you," he replied, and she didn't doubt him. She felt like both laughing and crying, to having all she desired. To think she was once a dirty child locked in a tower, and now she could have the kingdom she loved, ruled in her father's name, and both of the men she yearned for.

"What do I do?" she asked, her voice choked with emotion.

Eric brushed his free hand against her cheek, his fingers warm as the summer sun. "Go find William and bring him here so he can know all the love he longs for."

Snow White grabbed Eric by the shoulder, their bodies pressing together as she kissed him hard on the mouth. She fell back on the flat of her feet and grinned up at him. "I don't know how I ever lived without this joy."

"And you'll never have live without it again," he replied. "Now, go."

She grabbed her skirt, pulling the hem from the ground, and she ran down the length of the hall and into the expanses of the castle, calling Will's name, hoping he had not gone far. The soles of her shoes slapped hard against the stone floor, as she cried his name again, and finally, she found him stopped in front of a window.

"My Queen?" he asked, his eyebrows knitted together, confused. His gaze dropped, only for a moment, to her heaving breast and then back to her face. "Did I forget something?"

"Yes," Snow White said, and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him like they were children again, and unlike children, she kissed him. He hesitated and then his hands came to rest on her waist as he pulled her closer. Eric had been right. This kiss held magic and love, and she could feel it within her as she had felt Eric's kiss when she woken in her funeral gown. This was the kiss her mouth remembered, and not the one of the imposter of Will.

Their mouths parted, but he did not move so far away, keeping his arms wound around her body, and she could feel his breath against her lips. "But my kiss... I couldn't save you." he said. "Eric must be your true love."

"I don't know a love truer than yours for me. You both saved me, and I love you both. Eric..." Snow White twisted at the waist, sensing the Eric behind her, and there he was, his sturdy presence holding the three of them together. Fighting side-by-side under the flag of their king, fighting in service of one fair heart, Eric and William had bonded too, and were not just brought together by their love for her. She knew this now.

Snow White turned back to Will and touched her hand to his cheek. "Your love saved me, too."

Will gazed beyond her, at Eric, and whatever he saw there, he seemed to accept. He laughed, and it was contagious, and they laughed together like they did when they were children, when he teased her and they fought, but she had laughed anyway. She squeezed his arm until he focused his eyes on her face, and she grinned at him.

"My first order to you as both your queen and your love is that you once again call me by my name."

"I can do that, Snow White," Will whispered, and he pulled her into another kiss.

As Snow White felt Eric's hand on her shoulder, his body pressed to hers, she knew none of them would ever long again.


End file.
